


Lineage

by virdant



Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Jedi, Jedi Culture, Jedi Culture Respected, Jedi are Found Family, Lineage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26476774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virdant/pseuds/virdant
Summary: Anakin is new to the temple, and he does not yet understand that these are his brothers and sisters, his cousins, his uncles and aunts. He does not know yet, but he will learn, Obi-Wan thinks.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Original Jedi Character(s), Obi-Wan Kenobi & Yoda
Comments: 24
Kudos: 326
Collections: Jedi-Friendly, The Temple Archives





	Lineage

**Author's Note:**

> sometimes i spend a lot of time thinking about how language shapes our understanding of things, and then i write fic.
> 
> * * *

Anakin has only been at the Temple for a day when Obi-Wan takes him to the creche.

Crechemaster Lurtolo is full of gentle affection when they see Obi-Wan. “Oh, Ben,” they say, the familiar nickname coming to their lips as they rise, hands pressed together. “I heard the news.”

Obi-Wan bows his head and says, “Thank you,” quietly, and, “I wanted you to meet Anakin.”

“Hello, Anakin. A little old for the creche, aren’t you?” They are very kind as they bend down to meet Anakin’s gaze, very gentle as they pat his shoulder. Obi-Wan was one of theirs, when he was a youngling in the creche, and they keep track of all of their younglings, even as they grow into initiates and then padawans and knights and masters. Crechemaster Lurtolo knows about Obi-Wan’s missions, keeping track of him with a distant care the way they keep track of all of the Jedi that were once under their charge. It’s why they know about the latest mission to Naboo, why they know about the boy found on Tatooine, and Qui-Gon Jinn’s insistence that he become a Jedi., why they know about the Sith that slayed Qui-Gon Jinn.

“Oh, he’s not—he’s my padawan.”

Crechemaster Lurtolo blinks slowly. “Your padawan,” they echo, because they keep track of the coming and goings of their charges after they leave the creche, but this rumor hadn’t made it to their ears, yet.

Obi-Wan’s face is set in the same determined expression he’s had since he was a youngling. “He doesn’t have a creche-clan, so I was hoping that he could…”

Be his younger creche-sibling, under Crechemaster Lurtolo’s guidance. Be like all of the younglings under Crechemaster Lurtolo that came after him, his younger creche-siblings, that he mentored and cared for. 

“Of course,” Crechemaster Lurtolo says, without any hesitation. “He is your padawan,” they add, as if that is enough.

Anakin does not know yet, and perhaps he will never understand, but that had always been enough.

* * *

Anakin throws a fit every time Obi-Wan has to leave the temple.

He puts on a brave face, but he protests first. “I can help you,” he insists, with a child’s determination. He is still broadcasting his frustration, his upset, his anger. Most younglings learn to shield before they leave the creche, but Anakin has never needed to learn, and he stomps through the temple as if he were in his private rooms, emotions projected for everybody to bear.

Obi-Wan tries to help. He introduces him to his Initiate-Master, tries to integrate him into the same clan that raised him during the tumultuous years before he was a padawan. Anakin never seems to care for it. He sulks. He whines. He wants to stay by Obi-Wan’s side, even untrailed and a liability.

But Obi-Wan has dealt with clingy initiatives. He’s been an older initiate-sibling for years now, has dealt with hero-worship and the petulant wants of children for years. He puts Anakin in Master Sistir’s capable hands and leaves for his mission.

* * *

Master Sistir is leading initiates in guided meditation when Obi-Wan and Anakin find him. Obi-Wan settles down on the outskirts of the initiates, legs folded in lotus position, urging Anakin to do the same.

It’s a familiar echo of Obi-Wan’s own initiate years. Master Sistir’s voice is a tether of sound, pulling Obi-Wan into the anxieties that were building in his chest, a sieve for him to sift through his thoughts, cool water pouring through his hands as he looked at his worries and then let the ones he could not address slide away.

When the meditation is done, Obi-Wan opens his eyes, refreshed. Master Sistir has a familiar glimmer in his eye, one that says he’s noticed Obi-Wan and Anakin. “Obi-Wan,” he says, with his usual lilting affection.

The initiates, distracted by their own meditation, perk up when they realize. “Obi-Wan!” they clamor at their older initiate-brother, their voices overlapping with enthusiasm. Obi-Wan’s presence—any older initiate-sibling’s presence—usually heralds saber tips, stories of off-world missions, and sage advice for getting away with sleeping in class.

Obi-Wan laughs, greets his younger initiate-siblings by name in turn. He was once an initiate under Master Sistir’s care; and though he’d become a padawan, and is now a knight, he is still of Master Sistir’s lineage, one of the many nurtured and grown in his care. That makes him older initiate-brother to these initiates now: to watch over and mentor and care for.

“What brings you here today, Obi-Wan?” Master Sistir asks, once the clamor has died down.

Anakin is what brings Obi-Wan to Master Sistir. Anakin, who is his padawan, but who did not grow up in the temple. He is too old to be part of Crechemaster Lurtolo’s current generation of younglings, but he is of age with Master Sistir’s initiates. He can be Obi-Wan’s padawan, and also be of this generation of initiate-siblings, call them brother and sister and grow with them.

“Of course,” Master Sistir agrees. “He would be welcome regardless, as your padawan.”

This is Obi-Wan’s family, his lineage. He was raised by all the crechemasters, all of the initiate masters, but these are his brother and sisters, his to care for, his to protect. And now Anakin is one of them: his padawan to care for, his padawan to protect. It is easy to bring Anakin into this fold, to hold them together as family.

Master Sistir’s voice is very warm. “We’ll watch over him.”

It’s a familiar promise; Obi-Wan has heard it a thousand times before, and knows it to be true every time. Anakin will learn the same.

* * *

Anakin digs his heels in every time they meet with Master Yoda. Obi-Wan tries: tries to explain Master Yoda’s reasons for his reticence, his long years as a Jedi, his caution as he tries to guide everybody towards to the Light. He tries to explain that Master Yoda is the Master of his Master’s Master, and that matters. That like so many other Jedi, they can trace their lineage to Master Yoda, but Master Yoda is great-grandmaster to Obi-Wan, great-great grandmaster to Anakin, and will always be available for guidance.

They carry Master Yoda’s teachings in them, passed down from one Jedi to another, and it is an easy thing, to go to Master Yoda’s quarters, to share a meal together, to remind each other that they are bound by this thread of teaching and learning.

Obi-Wan is patient—he learned patience from Master Yoda, who has lived for 900 years. Every time he centers himself and lets himself settle into the solidity of stone, the deepness of an ocean, he thinks of Master Yoda. Master Yoda taught Obi-Wan patience, taught him caution, taught him to look at the world with a hundred years of wisdom behind his gaze.

Obi-Wan takes Anakin to dinners with Master Yoda, to tea salons, to quiet meditations in the Room of a Thousand Fountains.

Anakin is young; it took Obi-Wan years to learn to value Master Yoda’s patient guidance as well. He has time to learn.

* * *

Obi-Wan is a child of the temple. He was raised by the crechemasters, taught by all of the masters, nurtured among his brothers and sisters and cousins alike. As a child of the creche, he had his brothers and sisters under Crechemaster Lurtolo, his cousins under the other Crechemasters. He had uncles and aunts in the Knights and Masters around him. He had the masters who raised him: Master Sistir when he was an initiate, Master Qui-Gon as a Padawan. He had all of the other Masters, who taught him what he needed to know, provided guidance when he needed it, nurtured him and brought him to where he is now.

Anakin is not a child of the temple. He does not understand the embrace of a dozen brothers and sisters in the force, of hundreds of cousins, of uncles and aunts watching over him and guiding him on his journey. He shuns their considering looks, reading disappointment in their gaze when there is only the worry for the future. He turns away from Crechemaster Lurtolo, insisting he is not a child, ignores Master Sistir’s inquiries as to his health, dismisses Master Yoda at every entreaty.

He does not understand what it means to be a child of the temple. To love freely and be loved freely. To care for all and be cared for by all.

He does not understand yet, but he will. He will learn. Anakin is part of the temple now, and he has all of the time in the world to learn. To learn that this is his family. To learn that he is loved. To learn to love in return.

He will learn, Obi-Wan thinks, and thinks, and thinks. He thinks and thinks: until he is standing before the bodies of his brothers and sisters, cradling his cousins, watching footage of Anakin murder his nephews and nieces and uncles and aunts and grandmaster—

(He will not learn.)

**Author's Note:**

>   * Follow me on twitter [@virdant](http://virdant.twitter.com)
>   * [Like & retweet on twitter](https://twitter.com/virdant/status/1306081866672304130)
>   * Comment and kudo below
> 



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